/r/mantids
A subreddit for those looking for information, care tips, general advice on mantises. Discuss mantis and the mantiskeeping hobby. Share pictures, seek advice, trade, have a good time!
a community for mantis lovers, and owners to share pictures, articles, discuss breeding, trade nymphs and oothecas, DIY projects and everything inbetween this wonderful hobby!
10/8/2018 hello! A couple of users haven't been able to post on here. It appears that their posts don't show up after being submitted. if this is happening to you let us know so we can look into it.
The Mantis
Faqs and useful info
General Mantis Caresheet (Lots of info!)
Useful Links
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/r/mantids
I found this sweet lady a couple weeks ago and I decided to take her home with me, as temperatures were starting to drop fast (I live off of Lake Erie). I knew when I saw her that she was quite plump. She is very active and has seemed really happy in the enclosure I made for her. I just joined this sub so that I could get an exact ID on her (I’m assuming she’s either a European or Chinese mantis?) and to see if anyone agreed that she looked gravid! I’ve always loved mantids, but I will admit this is my first time trying to keep one as a pet since I was a kid without the Internet lol. Obviously having the exact ID will help me research what to do, but I would like to try and hatch it, assuming it’s fertile. If anyone has any tips for me I appreciate it so much! I’m trying to keep it quiet and not disturb her. I’ve read this process can take a couple days?? The video is sped up a little bit, and then I added a clip of her a couple days ago eating a super worm! Thanks for reading and watching!! 🖤🖤
⚠️ Her regular diet is feeder insects, this is her first time trying meat. Don’t worry, I’m not replacing her diet with cat food or anything.
If not what does? (Besides reducing movement outside the cage and blocking off view from other mantids/food)
He does this randomly sometimes, he's not molting he ate like 5 minutes ago prior to video. I bought him few days ago and he does this randomly quite alot. Is something wrong or is he just special lol
Sorry for the poor image quality, my hands shake badly and my phone doesn't photograph through the mesh well, but this mantis has always been particularly skittish so I don't like to get inside the cage and bother her often. This is an H. venosa I got in early March of this year. She is growing well and aside from being skittish around most feeders (unless they are worm shaped, for some reason) she is pretty healthy. I'm posting here because I am curious about her abdomen and her wings. She molted out and developed her wings a little while back (I have trouble keeping track of time so I don't remember exactly when, she has had her wings for two weeks at least), but I think perhaps they are mildly deformed? The way she is sitting in the picture (with her wings to the side and her abdomen raised) is how she sits all the time. Even when she's at rest her wings are like that. It doesn't seem to affect her mobility much, and she eats and drinks and poops fine so I'm not worried about quality of life, I'm just curious if anyone else has ever seen something like this. Also, notice in advance that I will probably flip flop between using he/him pronouns and she/her pronouns for the mantis. I usually call him by he/him pronouns because I usually give invertebrates names and pronouns randomly before they can be sexed and just stick with those for the rest of their life. This mantis is named Richter, by the way Also, please let me know if I used the right flair. I assumed since I was showing an image the image flair would be best
Hello!! I just got my golden Indonesian mantis today and for some reason he is SO energetic? He's always walking around and is running everywhere, every other mantis I have gotten is as still as a stick but this guy, I've seen toddlers with less energy, any help/explanation would be appreciated ^_^
I got a pair of them two days ago and since then they haven't eaten anything.I offered fruit flies moths and nothing.They don't even react to the Motion of the prey.
I found this palm-sized one around my bike's handle and I'm too afraid to ride it now. I've always had extreme fear (maybe phobia?) of insects and seeing this one just made me hop off of the bike. I somehow used a stick to shoo it away. But is there a better way to handle this situation if it happens again?
I just don't want to hurt the insect and neither want it to get anywhere near me. Thanks!
I am ECSTATIC because I’ve been researching mantids and care for WEEKS, and settled on a Ghost Mantis, as they are super hardy and freaking awesome-looking. I ordered an unsexed nymph and it arrives today in a few hours and I’m so excited :,)
The mantis also comes with a fruit fly culture, so if anyone has tips on maintaining that as well that would be appreciated!
I have one specific question- How often should I clean the enclosure? I didn’t read anything about it, but I assume it should be cleaned regularly.
For those who have owned mantids, especially a ghost mantis, what should I expect? I’ve done extensive research, so I have all of the basic care, but what would you think I need to know? Any beginner mistakes you made to avoid?
ALSO GENDER NEUTRAL NAME SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME :)!
Looks like I put some green googly eyes on her. 👀
This stupid mantis starved herself for 2 weeks all to eat a mealworm tied on fishing line.... or maybe I'm a stupid owner for not knowing a l5 parablepharis doesn't eat hydei. Whatever. She doesn't like my hand or tweezers so I had to shove it in her mouth with fishing line. Made sure she didn't eat fishing line. So glad I spent priority on blue bottles all for you to actually eat, because now I gotta hit up USPS about why my 50 dollar priority flies are two days late. USPS can't do anything right even when I was expecting Vaermina herself 🙄 get on their phone and you're talking to robots who direct you to more robots
i absolutely love this little guy/girl.. kind of struggling to sex atp because it seems like its wings are the same length as the abdomen
Found this in my yard and have never seen one before. Really hoping it’s not so that I can raise an heir to my throne
Found this in my yard and have never seen one before. Really hoping it’s not so that I can raise an heir to my throne
What to do?
I have a Chinese mantis who’s final moult went horribly awry 3 weeks ago. He fell during his moult. Almost everything went wrong. I cleaned his exoskeleton off where I could with a damp Q-tip. His wings are destroyed, his back legs do not function at all. His middle legs work well. His raptorial forearms work enough to pull himself around, but he absolutely can’t catch or even hold his food to his mouth. I almost froze him the night of the moult. He had zero energy and I thought he was dead anyway. Instead I laid him on some soft clean substrate for a day and let him drink water from a q-tip until he could stand up and in a couple days he could crawl up and hang from wood that I have in the enclosure. I also could feed him worm guts with tongs. I had to go away for a few days and I got him on my hand and was about to euthanize.. but the way he looked at me… I couldn’t do it lol. So I had my friend who fed my fish for me give him water when I was gone and when I came back he seems feisty as ever in his own immobile way. I was getting tired of holding worm guts to his face for 15 minutes at a time so I basically took my my fishing skills and turned it in to his new feeding device. My question is… am I crazy and should I keep this poor guy alive? I feel as those he wants to live!
Nothing happened I just want to insult him
Nw Ohio. On top of our swing set.